Hello again, my name is Noah Lee, and I am a Junior from Peoria majoring in Poultry Science at Mississippi State. In May I got the opportunity to shadow several people at Grainland Farmers Coop in Eureka and Minier. I got to talk with many people who work at Grainland Farmers including Terry Bline, CEO, Caycee McGinnis, Eureka outside location
manager, and Guy Hainline, Grainland’s originator, as well as many others. Together Grainland’s employees work together at nine different locations to dry, store, sell, and ship grain to various buyers at a profit. One factor that makes Grainland Farmers stand out is that they have two facilities that can ship by rail. Eureka can take full trains, and Emden can take about 25 rail cars at a time. This allows them to sell to markets beyond Central Illinois. Some of their main local buyers were the Illinois River, Ethanol plants in Peoria, Pekin, and Hennepin, and they also sold some non-GMO beans to Cargill in Bloomington. Some of their main buyers via rail were Incobrasa in Gilman, poultry producers in the Southeast, and the Gulf of Mexico.

I thought it was really interesting how everyone had to pull their weight and be flexible to make the Coop profitable. If the operations guys let grain get damaged or fall short of grade, they could cause Grainland to be docked. If the guys in the office did not account for trucking restrictions and inventory, they could affect if a train could be loaded within twenty four hours.

Communication was prioritized at each location, and I got to see this first hand by sitting in on an outside manager’s meeting, where they discussed various projects and repairs they were working on throughout the coop. I also saw that flexibility was important, as some employees had to work odd hours because they were out planting or others were going on vacation. I also learned how the train loading crew has to be flexible, because trains often arrive several days
later than hoped for, which can mean that they have to be loaded on a weekend or holiday.

I also thought it was impressive how Grainland Farmers managed to keep track of all of the moving parts of their business. They have to buy, store, and condition grain, dispatch trucks to certain elevators, send them to different buyers, keep track of various records, track trains, monitor markets, hedge grain, deal with breakdowns and ensure compliance with various regulations and safety protocols. I also thought it was cool how a bushel of soybeans or corn
grown right here in Central Illinois could reach an end market a county over or even an ocean
over.

In the end, I learned a lot from shadowing with Grainland Farmers and would like to thank them, especially Terry and Caycee. I also learned a lot from the Industry Immersion Scholarship program as a whole, and it has definitely opened my eyes to the careers in grain close to home in Central Illinois. Thank you to everyone who is a part of GFAI’s scholarship program; it has truly been a blessing to be a part of in many ways.

Hello! My name is Luke Wessels, and I am currently a senior studying Agribusiness Markets & Management at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I plan to graduate in May 2026 and pursue a job in farmer-facing commodity brokerage and consulting. It has been an honor to be selected for the Grain and Feed Association of Illinois scholarship. This scholarship has allowed me to network with many different people and learn a great deal about the grain industry in Illinois. Without this scholarship, I would not have the network and knowledge that I have today. I am very thankful for all the industry leaders who took the time to show us their facilities this past summer. I am also thankful for the industry leaders I had the opportunity to job shadow.

In December 2025, I shadowed Jeff Kapraun. Jeff is a grain buyer at One Earth Energy in Gibson City, IL. One Earth Energy is a single-location ethanol plant. They buy corn from farmers and then turn it into ethanol and other products. Some of their products include ethanol, distiller’s grain, and non-edible corn oil. Jeff's job is to buy corn from farmers throughout the year and to make sure they have an adequate supply to run the plant. Jeff has some bulk storage to work with, so if the price is right, he can stock up at certain times throughout the year, but he regularly needs corn because the plant is running 24/7. When I was there, I met Steve Kelly, who is the CEO of the company. He told me about the history of the company and how he started it. I enjoyed learning about all the business aspects of the company being started. At the plant, Jeff drove me around and showed me the whole process. Semi-trucks loaded with grain arrive at the plant to dump grain. Sometimes there can be very long lines, but it was not super busy when I was there. He then showed me the path the corn takes and how it travels throughout the plant. My favorite part was seeing the distillation building. They were adding on to it when I was there, so I would love to see how it turned out. I also enjoyed learning about carbon capture and storage. Jeff showed me the brand-new carbon sequestration facility that they installed. He said that he enjoyed learning about the process, and I did as well. It was fascinating to say the least. Carbon dioxide will be captured directly from the fermentation process at the ethanol plant. Carbon dioxide is a natural byproduct that occurs in the process of making ethanol. Usually, the carbon dioxide would be released into the atmosphere, but the new process will allow them to compress the carbon dioxide into a fluid and inject it over 6,000 feet underground. Down there, the liquid will be safe and in permanent storage. They have been working on the project for a while and have been waiting to receive grants and permission. They had to hire more employees to keep this side of the business running. Jeff has a lot to keep track of, other than just buying grain, and it was very beneficial to see him work.

In December 2025, I shadowed Doug Cropp. Doug is the lead merchandiser for Premier Cooperative. Doug works out of their headquarters in Champaign, IL. Premier Cooperative has 22 elevator locations spread across the eastern half of the state, around Champaign. Premier is also involved in the energy business, and they sell a few different products. These products include fuel, propane, lubricants, and DEF. Premier is also connected through ownership with United Prairie. UP is the agronomy and application side of the business. Premier has a fleet of trucks that they use to haul grain for farmers in their farm pickup program. They also use these trucks to haul grain out of the elevators to the end user. Doug started his career in Wisconsin working for a cooperative. His job before joining Premier was overseeing the grain business of a large cooperative in Wisconsin. At Premier, Doug works to oversee all the bushels from the 22 locations and hedge the risk. He also must sell the grain out of the locations to an end user. Some of Premier's elevators are on rails, so they can load trains and ship them out. Premier is using some new technology for their grain business that is very effective. One of the programs technically acts as another grain merchandiser. The program can monitor the status of their positions and continue to run in the office when Doug is gone. It was interesting for me to see all the locations, their active bushels, and hedged status all in one place. It was very well organized and a smooth online program. Premier’s customers can also sell grain and manage their positions online. This allows farmers to be more efficient and effective in their grain marketing.

In March 2026, I shadowed Tyler Endress. Tyler is a grain merchandiser at Akron Services Inc. and works out of the Brimfield office. Tyler buys grain from farmers and then later sells it. Akron has four elevator locations, 3 being west of Peoria and 1 north. Akron also has a fleet of trucks that they use to haul grain from farms and their elevators to deliver to the end user. The end user in their geography consists of river terminals and ethanol plants. The river terminals take the grain in, store it, and then load it onto barges. The barges go down to St. Louis, where they are then directed to New Orleans. The ethanol plants grind the corn to create ethanol and other products. Tyler must manage his risk of buying large amounts of grain. He manages his risk by hedging his positions. There is a big emphasis on the local basis and what people are willing to pay for grain. Tyler must manage when he sells and buys his grain based on the basis and consider trucking and storage costs. Sometimes there can be slim margins and risk involved. Tyler must maintain good relationships with farmers and with the grain buyers at the end users. He told me that relationships are key in his line of business. When I was with Tyler, he was working on the details of his average pricing program for the elevator. The average pricing program allows farmers to sell X number of bushels through the elevator at the same time, once a week. Tyler is the one who makes the sale and manages the bushels. This program lasts about 15 weeks and is a great way for farmers to get some bushels sold. Tyler is also in charge of Akron's non-GMO program. He merchandises non-GMO bushels to different end users for farmers. CGB and Cargill are both options to take non-GMO bushels nearby.

In April 2026, I shadowed Connor Lay. Connor works for Consolidated Grain and Barge at the Hennepin office. He trades the container market and manages logistics for CGB’s container business. Connor works alongside a team of people to manage the entire container business for the company. They ship thousands of containers from the United States across the world. One of the guys on the team negotiates and makes the deals happen with the steamship companies. Steam ships carry the containers from the US to other countries. Two other members of the team work together to sell the containers to people outside of the US. They do most of their business in Southeast Asia. So, these two guys must stay up late at night on US time to be able to communicate with buyers across the ocean. I asked them if they were fluent in Mandarin, and they were not close. These two guys also told me that relationships are key in their line of work. They must trust those they are working with in another country because there is risk involved. The final team member is the boss of the group, who oversees all the logistics and makes sure the team is working efficiently. Connor showed me the ports in Southeast Asia that they ship to from the major ports here in the United States. Some of the major ports in the United States are Tacoma, WA, and Long Beach, CA. They mostly ship 40ft containers that can hold around 900bu of grain. Connor and the rest of his team must ensure that the steamship and all the containers make it to the end destination. Containers are loaded on rail in Illinois and sent to one of the major ports to be unloaded and put onto a steamship. They can track it to the end and are responsible if something goes wrong. Connor also introduced me to several other CGB employees in the office. He introduced me to traders and grain merchandisers. There was an accounting wing as well, but I did not meet any of them.  It was great to talk with the grain merchandisers and learn what they do. I was also able to make a mutual connection that I made through another job shadow with them.

March 13, 2026
Hello again, my name is Nicole Kerber. As a refresher, I am a junior at Illinois State University majoring in agribusiness. I am originally from Manlius, IL, and feel extremely blessed to be continuing this scholarship opportunity. I spent my spring job shadowing days at River Valley Cooperative this past week.

My first day was spent with Ryan Kerber the Grain Operations Manager. He told me how spring is a busy time for local elevators due to moving as much grain as possible before the next harvest season. They are trying to empty bins by shipping grain to processors, ethanol plants, feed mills, or export terminals. This allows them to create space for the upcoming crop and reduces risk of grain quality issues. Luckly for River Valley much of that is close within the area they operate with places such as Marquis, CGB, and Cargill. River Valley also has their own feed mill in Galva, IL.

Some of the quality issues are due to warmer temperatures causing the grain to spoil, mold, and attract insects. This is when operations managers spend much of their time monitoring grain condition and running fans within the bins, hoops, and sheds. It was neat to see how they could monitor the grain bin temperature by using sensor cables that create a thermographic map. This allows them to identify hot spots within the grain bin and hopefully avoid spoilage.

The second day, I looked into the merchandising side of the grain operation. Many hard working employees manage contracts and ensure that grain deliveries match the correct contract. Grain merchandisers and originators are working closely with farmers to finalize contracts, track scale tickets, and ensure delivery bushels and time is correct. They also encourage farmers to use forward contracts on new crop bushels.

​Overall, these workdays have extended my knowledge on the grain world. I’d like to thank River Valley Cooperative for having me and giving me new insights with the agricultural system. Also, Illinois Grain and Feed Association for supplying me with this opportunity. 

​My name is Emma Whitaker, and I am an Agricultural Communication and International Ag student at Iowa State University. Through my recent industry experience, I had the opportunity to learn firsthand about harvest and feed mill operations at Dearwester Grain Services, a company that plays a key role in supporting farmers across western Illinois.
This spring, I had the opportunity to spend two full days learning about Dearwester’s feed sales operation. Going in, I understood the basics of grain and feed movement, but seeing how everything looks on a deeper and personal level gave me a much clearer picture of how important feed sales are to both the company and producers they serve.
On the first day, I spent time in Dearwester Grain’s Industry, IL, location. I experienced how they filled feed orders, and handled pick-ups and deliveries. One of the biggest things I noticed was how relationship-driven feed sales really are. It is not just about selling a product; it is about understanding the customer's operation, livestock needs, and long-term goals. The operation spends a lot of time communicating with producers, answering questions, and helping them make decisions that impact animal health and profitability. I learned that trust and consistency matter just as much as price or availability.
On the second day, I tagged along on deliveries and was able to meet a few customers of Dearwester Grain. An area that stood out to me was the amount of knowledge required to be successful in feed sales. Visiting farms and listening in on calls with customers helped me understand that it is not just sales skills, but also nutrition knowledge, market awareness, and problem-solving. The team has to understand feed ingredients, ration changes, seasonal demand shifts, and market price movements. They are constantly balancing cost, quality, and availability to provide the best options for customers.
Overall, this experience has helped me see feed sales as a fast-moving, relationship-focused part of the grain industry. It combines agriculture knowledge, business strategy, and customer service all in one role. Spending time inside the operation gave me a new appreciation for the people who make sure producers have the feed they need every single day. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn from the Dearwest Grain team, and to keep building my understanding of how feed and grain operations support agriculture at every level.

​            Hello, my name is Nicole Kerber. I am currently a junior at Illinois State University majoring in agribusiness. I am originally from Manlius, Illinois where I grew up around 4-H and FFA. I was blessed to receive the Illinois Grain and Feed Scholarship this year. This scholarship is very resourceful for college students not only for financial help but also networking through the Industry Immersion Tour.
            I spent my fall workdays at River Valley Cooperative on the Illinois side. My first day, I shadowed Ryan Kerber the Grain Operations Manager where he took me to various grain elevators to check the status of grain being hauled out. All elevators were working to core out their bins and hoops. This process started in Princeville, IL where they took in 3.5 million bushels of corn. The market then dictates the amount that is able to be hauled out. Soybeans typically are hauled prior to corn at about 3-4 million bushels but due to tariffs only about half a million have been moved. Ryan communicates between the grain merchandisers and operators making sure the correct number of bushels are being moved at the appropriate time to settle contracts. During the drive to different locations, I got to understand how harvest was down about 20% due to disease pressure in corn along with coming off a record year.
            The second day, I shadowed Michelle Cooney a Grain Originator for River Valley at the Manlius, IL office. During harvest, she keeps a close eye on the market and contacts farmers when the market rallies. When scale tickets come in from terminals and River Valley locations, she checks which trucks are running and moisture content on the grain. If a ticket is incorrect, it is her job to go in to correct it and apply it to appropriate contracts. After harvest, she runs various reports about revenue for farmers for their upcoming tax appointments. Prospect work is also very important to her job title. She contacts local farmers that have showed interest with the company and works to show them why their services are superior. Her goal is to gain more customers, bushels, and contracts. Another important part of her job is getting the ISCC (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification) papers signed by her customers. The ISCC is an independent, globally applicable certification system that supports sustainable, traceable and deforestation free supply chains.
            Overall, these workdays have significantly boosted my knowledge on the grain world, and I feel extremely blessed to have had the opportunity. I’d like to thank River Valley Cooperation for having me and giving me new insights within the agricultural system. Also, Illinois Grain and Feed Association for supplying me networking prospects. 

​My first job shadow experience took place at the downtown Chicago office of CIH (Commodity & Ingredient Hedging, LLC). During my time at CIH, I had the opportunity to learn from the members of the Hog Team. I sat in on multiple calls with the company’s clients, where I learned what commodity hedging is, how it works, and why it is important. On one call, an Account Executive advised a client on what to do with their current positions and what potential positions they might consider taking in the future. The Account Executive explained how weather conditions in Brazil and Argentina could affect the market, and in turn, the client’s business. What I found most intriguing was that the client was based in Canada, yet they had to worry about weather and planting conditions in South America. Before this call, I had no idea how significantly global events could influence the U.S. grain market.
I also participated in the weekly market briefing, where company analysts reviewed their research on various aspects of the hedging market and discussed how they planned to position their clients for success. Commodity hedging was a completely new industry for me, and although I found it challenging, I also found it incredibly interesting. After this experience, I am definitely interested in exploring this field further in the future.